The name of the convert is Vera Somanah, a respectable native of the Soodra Caste. He is a pensioned Sepoy of independent means, and much respected by his neighbours. He had served under the Company for several years; and, upon obtaining his pension, came to spend his remaining days in peace at Chicacole. His soul, however, was at this time a stranger to true peace, though he used many devices and performed many ceremonies to obtain it. He visited several holy shrines, and performed numerous vows in obedience to the Hindoo Shasters; but all these were to his guilty soul as physicians of no value. The first dawn of divine truth upon his mind was experienced in the following manner, just as he was about to visit the far-famed shrine of Juggunnath: He had consulted his wife on the subject, and both made up their minds to set out on a journey to this shrine of Moloch, thinking that with this act their piety would be complete, and they would be absolved from all sin. A tract on the worship of Juggunnath, which had been placed in his desk, all at once arrested his attention. He read it through carefully, and his heart sickened at the abominations of Juggunnath therein described: he afterwards read it to his wife, pointing out to her the inutility of going to such a place for salvation. From that time he began to seek for more light in the right direction. Hitherto he had been very much opposed to the Christian Religion, and had often rebuked his adopted son for bringing home christian tracts, threatening the Master to remove the lad from the Missionary School if he taught him any more christian books. But this he did, like Paul, ignorantly; for, ever after reading the tract on Juggunnath, he was a constant attendant at the Mission Chapel, and very attentive to the great truths of the Gospel. It was a very interesting sight to our Missionary, Mr. Dawson, to witness his regular and devout attendance on the services of the Sanctuary, in behaviour more like a professed Christian than a heathen. 66 For some time he felt it to be his duty to come out from the heathen, and join himself to the Church of Christ, but he could not muster up courage enough to make an open avowal of his inward convictions. Whilst his mind was in this state of indecision, our brother, Mr. Dawson, preached one Sabbath morning from the solemn words of our Lord to his disciples, Will ye also go away?" and Peter's reply, "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life." He felt warm and earnest on the subject, and urged upon all present the importance of immediate decision for Christ. The Holy Spirit was undoubtedly present to apply the question of the Saviour to Somanah's heart, and he could not resist it. The Missionary closed his Sermon, and was about to offer up the concluding prayer, when he was interrupted by somebody at his elbow calling out, "Sir, sir!" He looked round, and whom should he see but Vera Somanah! With great earnestness the latter exclaimed, "I beg you will baptize me now." Mr. Dawson told him to wait a little, and he would speak with him. He then offered up, with mingled feelings of gratitude and joy, the concluding prayer. When he came down from the pulpit, the poor man fell at his feet, saying, "Master, save me!" Mr. Dawson gave him some words of encouragement, and promised to make arrangements for his baptism. He wrote to one of the Missionaries at Vizagapatam, to come and aid him in the Service. During the interval the wife and relatives of the Convert hearing of his intentions came to him; and, by their cries and threats, succeeded in getting him away from Chicacole to some village at a distance. This effort of the enemy to deter him from fulfilling his intentions prevailed for about a year. He continued, however, constant in his attendance on the means of grace, not deviating from his purpose, but delaying it, in order to influence his wife to cast in her lot with him, that so they might have the happiness of being baptized together. But, finding his endeavours ineffectual, he at last made up his mind to leave her, and at once fulfil the command of Christ. He went to the Missionary, and opened to him the state of his soul, and told him he had made up his mind to break Caste, and put on the yoke of Christ by baptism. Mr. Dawson exhorted him to fulfil his purpose without delay. To this he agreed, and immediately renounced Caste in the presence of several witnesses, exclaiming, as he took the cup of coffee in his hands, "This is to prove to you all that this day I have done with Hindooism, and openly embrace Christ, because there is salvation in no other." He afterwards dined with the Missionary, and in the evening went with his fellow-convert to his own house to communicate the event to his wife. She was distracted at the news, and abandoned herself to agonies of grief for some time. Hundreds of natives congregated at his dwelling, most of them abusing him and his fellow-convert. A few amongst them owned that he was a good man, that he had not decided hastily, and must have had good reasons for taking this step. Somanah stood firm amidst this trying scene; and, with extraordinary courage granted him at the time, began reading a tract to the people, challenging them to show him what evil he had done by breaking Caste and renouncing Idolatry. This interesting Convert was baptized, with two other natives, in the Mission-Chapel at Chicacole, by our brother, Mr. Dawson. The place of worship being in one of the most public streets of Chicacole, natives of all Castes flocked to it, and during the Service manifested the greatest attention and decorum. Verah Somanah (who was baptized by the name of Cornelius), and another of the Converts, read their confession of faith to the assembly, who listened to it with the deepest attention. The number present was about six hundred. Mr. Dawson was not without fears of disturbance from so large an assembly, but He who stilleth the rage of the heathen was present, and by his overruling Providence no evil took place. It will be interesting to our friends to know that this sincere and devoted Convert to the faith of Christ has at length been joined by his wife, who is now anxious to cast in her lot with the people of God, and to walk with her husband in all the ordinances of the Lord blameless. We would earnestly entreat the prayers of all who love our Lord Jesus, and seek the extension of his kingdom, that these Converts may stand fast in the faith of our common Redeemer; and, by their holy lives and upright behaviour, put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. Since the conversion and baptism of these Converts, the Lord has been pleased to add to the little flock of the Redeemer at this station; so that there are now between fifty and sixty baptized Christians at Chicacole, and twenty-seven adults in communion. In a letter which I lately received from Mr. Dawson, he says, "From among the heathen the Lord is adding to us one by one. Three Brahmins have broken caste, and one has joined the church. A friend of Cornelius the Convert has, with his wife, forsaken Heathenism. The Christians are all labouring hard for their maintenance; and several not in the church appear to be concerned about their souls. In the district the knowledge of the truth is making progress, and the power of superstition is evidently giving way; and with this there is much serious inquiry and increasing interest manifested in the Christian Religion by the people generally. I could not help regarding it as a very good sign, that the attendance at the Mokulingum Festival this year was really small compared with what it was formerly. Our new Chapel is a beautiful and commodious place of worship. It has been sometime opened, and is now largely attended." Surely such intelligence as this from long-degraded and idolatrous India is truly delightful, and should stir us all up to more earnest prayer and self-denying efforts for the emancipation from spiritual thraldom of 120 millions of our fellow-beings and fellow-subjects. Members of Christian Churches! Young men of the rising Ministry! Will you not come forward and aid us in the spiritual conquest of this vast portion of Satan's empire? Will you not take part in a conquest, not of ambition, but of truth; not of unrighteousness, but of righteousness; not of cruelty and bloodshed, but of holiness and peace? India is beginning to stretch out her hands to the Living God. Her sons and daughters, wounded by the poisonous arrows of their false and degrading superstitions, are beginning to feel the need of that heavenly balm which the Gospel alone supplies. Her priests, also, groping amidst the forests of their superstitions, and lost in the maze of metaphysical subtleties, are beginning to seek after the highway to the kingdom. Their disordered spirits, in ardent thirst after the "unknown God," have plunged themselves into the fetid and troubled waters of a debasing and cruel idolatry, but are now beginning to yearn for the healing streams of the river of life; and they look with imploring earnestness to you for help. O will you not assist us in cutting more channels from the inexhaustible fountain of grace and truth, in order that these thirsty spirits may drink and never die! By the agency which British Christians have employed, they have succeeded in cutting asunder the cable which tied them to the feeble anchor of their own leaky vessel: will you now leave them to perish on the broken planks of infidelity, instead of employing all the agency you can to bring them to the ark of everlasting peace and safety? Come forward, then, and increase the triumphs of the Redeemer's kingdom, win subjects to His peaceful sceptre, and be co-workers with God in the redemption of a lost world! I am rejoiced to hear that five Missionaries have been promised for the Bengal Presidency if the men can be found. May we not hope that five, or at least three, may be found for the Presidency of Madras, whose claims are equally important and pressing. Our American Brethren have lately sent out thirteen Missionaries to strengthen their various stations in India. Why should not the London Missionary Society emulate their zeal, and keep pace with them in their efforts to evangelize this portion of the great Empire of Britain? I remain, yours sincerely, Islington, August 6, 1847. EDWARD PORTER, Teloogoo Missionary. EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL IN CHINA. From the successive communications of our Missionary brethren, we are encouraged to believe that God, in the abounding riches of his grace, has opened a door in this vast region of idolatry and superstition which no man shall be able to shut. The following statements from our Missions at Shanghae and Amoy confirm this impression, and the perusal of them cannot fail to awaken in the minds of our readers feelings of sacred joy and gratitude, combined with a deepened sense of obligation towards the Missionary cause in this part of the world. It will be seen that large numbers of the Chinese are becoming attentive hearers of the Gospel; that the message of heaven is fearlessly proclaimed in city and village, in the crowded thoroughfare and the heathen temple, before the very presence of the national idols; that it has no external opposition to encounter from the Native Authorities or the people themselves; and that the public worship of God in the language of the country is established on a broad and firm foundation, These encouragements, manifestly bestowed by the hand of divine mercy, strengthen our motives and enforce our duty to abound more and more in the work; while fervently supplicating the promised effusion of divine influ ence on the seed already sown, that the wilderness may become a fruitful field. SHANGHAE. Early in April last, our devoted brethren labouring at this station, thus addressed the Directors : Since we forwarded our last semi-annual letter, the health of the Mission families has been mercifully preserved, whilst an addition has been made to our number in the arrival of the Rev. W. C. Milne, with Mrs. Milne, to aid us in the great work of evangelising the heathen. We are happy now to inform you, that the divinely-appointed means to that end, the direct preaching of the Gospel, has been statedly and frequently employed to large and listening audiences, both in the Mission-Chapel and elsewhere, with encouraging prospects of success. Those of us, who are old enough to remember the state of things in the Chinese Mission some years ago, are astonished and delighted to witness the amazing change that has taken place, within but a short period, in the increased opportunities for usefulness, and in the manifold evidences of attention and interest given by the formerly apathetic inhabitants of this idolatrous Empire; and we are constrained to say, What hath God wrought? You were informed in our last public letter of the erection of a place of worship in the city of Shanghae, and of the large attendance obtained: that attendance has been since kept up, while the services have been multiplied; and, in almost every instance, we have had a full house. Finding that one service on the Sabbath was well attended, we tried two, and with almost equal success: perceiving that the Sabbath-day services pleased the people, we then commenced week-day evening preaching with similar results. We have now, therefore, service in the Mission-Chapel every Sabbath morning and afternoon, and a Sermon is delivered on Tuesday and Friday evenings in the same building-on each occasion the attendance averages 300, and sometimes amounts to 500. Besides this, we have a service at the Hall of the Chinese Hospital every Sunday evening; and for the benefit of the patients, every alternate noon in the week; the attendance averaging 200, and sometimes amounting to 400. There are thus eight sermons delivered every week to large audiences, besides occasional opportunities of usefulness, when some of us attend the Chapel of an afternoon, to talk to the stragglers who may happen to enter, or attend to the numerous visitors who come to our own dwellings. Regarding the character of our audiences, we may observe, that about one-fourth consists of persons who are more or less stated hearers, (some baving never missed an opportunity at the Chapel,) while the majority comprises strangers, frequently from distant parts, who visit the city for the purposes of trade, and who are impelled by curiosity to come and hear these foreign preachers; with unemployed persons who visit the tea-gardens to pass an hour, and, being attracted by the novelty, enter the Chapel, which is in the immediate neighbourhood. Those who attend the Hospital resort thither from all parts, for the purpose of seek ing bodily health, but are at the same time instructed as to the nature of their spiritual maladies, and supplied with those remedies in the shape of oral and written instruction which may benefit the mind diseased. By these means more than a thousand different persons are every week brought under the sound of the Gospel, and the glad tidings are conveyed abroad throughout all the surrounding region both far and near. It might be expected that, with such a multiplicity of the means of grace, and amongst such a host of people, some fruit would appear; but we must remember that the Chinese are, as a nation, utterly ignorant of the first and simplest truths of Revealed Religion; that they have their minds choked up with prejudices, and their habits inured to idolatry; that they are naturally indifferent to spiritual and eternal realities, while they are immersed in the pursuit of wealth and pleasure; numbers of interested priests and philosophic teachers are likewise at hand to mislead or to overawe the few who may be disposed to pay any attention to the religion of foreigners, and it will no longer excite amazement that so few distinguish themselves from among the rest by making earnest inquiries regarding their souls, or by coming forward to declare themselves on the Lord's side. However, as it is, we are continually applied to by numbers of persons who profess a desire to enrol themselves among our adherents, but when they find that no temporal interests are to be served by such means, they soon grow timid and come no more. We want to see souls truly and deeply affected by a sense of their danger, and unable to find rest until safely fixed on the Rock of Ages-men in real interest about religion, who not only do not want any present benefit, but are prepared to endure temporal loss, or even persecution and affliction for the Word's sake-or we cannot entertain their applications. Those, who have previously connected themselves with us, continue stedfast. Wang-show-Yüh, who was formerly baptized, has joined the church; but we have to wait and long for the showers of heavenly blessing, which have been promised, and which will, no doubt, be vouchsafed in good time by a faithful God. We have frequently brought before the notice of the Directors the journeys we take, almost every week, into the villages, for the purpose of distributing tracts, and conversing with the people. These journeys have been vigorously prosecuted, during the past half-year, with increased prospects of suc cess. Becoming more familiar with the different routes, and expert in using the modes of conveyance, we have been enabled to penetrate to greater distances, visiting more of the neighbouring cities and towns, and yet keeping within the prescribed consular limits of 24 hours' absence. We find, however, that the farther we go, and the more frequently we itinerate, the more familiar do the people become, and the more safe do we feel from harm; so that we expect, by the frequent repetition of such visits, to break down, in a great measure, the prejudices that subsist among the natives, and prepare the way for the more enlarged diffusion of the Gospel. Our tracts are more sought after, immediately we make our appearance, and friendliness and familiarity take the place of suspicion and dread. Another feature of these expeditions is, that we are enabled to preach in the various cities and towns which we visit frequently, taking our stand in the front of heathen temples, and from some elevated position addressing hundreds of bystanders. We have thus in large walled cities, which no Europeans in foreign dress had ever before entered, enjoyed the privilege of proclaiming the Gospel of Christ to listening crowds, and we hope not without some good impression. May the time not be far distant when we shall gradually extend our efforts, until they reach the heart of the Celestial Empire! At the earnest request of the Religious Tract Society, and at their expense, we have engaged Wang-show-Yüh as a Tract Distributor: he has already visited Hangchow in the South, and Nan-king in the North, for the purpose of distributing tracts and conversing with the people. On one occasion, he brought with him from the former place a literary graduate, who came with the view of receiving further instruction. After staying with us a couple of weeks, and attending all our services, as well as holding frequent private conferences with us, he returned, promising to come again in the course of the present year. During the journey of Wang to Nan-king, he was enabled to carry the silent messengers of mercy to places and persons that we were excluded from visiting, and he now stands ready to go to Hong Chow, the great silk district, with another box of tracts and books. We have hitherto found him judicious and faithful, and we hope that he will continue so to the end. ΑΜΟΥ. Under date May 14, the ensuing communication has been received from our esteemned brethren at Amoy : : Since we last wrote to you, our usual engagements have continued to occupy our attention. We sow the seed of the word from day to day, fully aware of the obstacles presented to its reception by the stony or thorny nature of the ground which we seek to cultivate. We feel assured that the seed is divinely fitted to produce fruit among the Chinese of Amoy, as it has done "in all the world;" and though the fields may not be "white already unto the harvest," our duty is not the less certain; and the "increase" must depend on the Great Husbandman, who alone is able to bestow it. And our duty is often pleasant of performance. We not unfrequently meet with those who seem, for the time, to enter, in some measure, into the spirit of what we say; who listen not only with interest, but with apparent conviction and feeling, to our exhibitions of the Gospel, and its adaptation to their wants, and who come back repeatedly to receive our instructions: they might well be placed among the ranks of those who are "almost Christians." But pleasing as it is to meet with such persons, and to entertain hopes of their salvation, we cannot but feel grieved to see their unwillingness to avow themselves the disciples of Christ; while, in regard to the vast majority of our hearers, there cannot be a question as to their general unconcern in regard to the truths we preach, though, by argument, reduced to the necessity of assenting to their reasonableness, and probable correctness. The present, with its trifling cares and follies, absorbs all their attention; and to concern themselves about the soul, the possession of which many even seem to doubt, appears to them a work of complete supererogation. In our intercourse with those to whom the first elements of natural religion are utterly or almost altogether unknown, we are of course principally occupied in making known the simplest doctrines of our Holy Faith. The right which the only Living and True God, their only Creator, has to their hearts, as well as to their outward obedience; the sentence of condemnation to endless woe under which their rebellion against Him has brought them; the impossibility of their being delivered from that condemnation by anything they themselves, or their wisest sages, or their deceased ancestors, or their idol gods can do for them; and the delightful tidings of a free, full, and eternal salvation wrought out for them by "God marifest in the flesh," and ready to be bestowed on all who believe.-These form the subjects of our daily preaching, accompanied by references to the folly of their own superstitions, and quotations from their classical books, either by way of adding strength to our argument, or for the purpose of showing the futility of all teaching, on religious topics, but what is truly divine. Our meeting for Chinese women exhibits somewhat of an increase. It has of late been frequently addressed by Aug-Sien, a native of this district, who shows himself anxious to communicate to his countrymen the knowledge he has acquired of the Gospel; and which he professes to believe most firmly, though he has not yet requested admission to the Christian Church. We follow up his remarks on these occasions by addresses from ourselves; and though hearers come pretty regularly, they do not seem less disposed to hear from the fact that the exercise has lost its novelty. This Teacher recently mentioned to us the case of a young woman with whom his wife was well acquainted, and to whom, in her sickness, he testified what Jesus had done for the salvation of men. The patient seemed much interested, and up to the hour of her death pressed him to communicate to her all he knew of such interesting tidings. Whether they were received into her heart, cannot be known; but one thing is certain, that, unlike her fellow-country women, she absolutely declined all idolatrous observances in order to obtain recovery from her illness; and declared her thorough disbelief in their efficacy, though over and over again pressed to comply with them. Aug-Sien is frequently asked by his countrymen (respectable men) to come to their houses, and talk with them about the new doctrine: and recently a card was sent to one of us, with a similar request; and an opportunity thus afforded of pressing home, on intelligent and educated persons, the exhortation to "Repent and believe the Gospel." Our own efforts to make known the Gospel have not been confined to Amoy. We have made several excursions to the towns and villages in the vicinity; the most interesting of which was a trip to the large city of Chiang Chin, (about thirty-five miles distant,) in company with our brother Mr. Pohlman, of the American Board. We spent two days in this excursion, during which we had frequent opportunities of addressing large crowds in the villages on the side of the river which leads to the city, and in the city itself. It is, perhaps, |